Mass Effect 1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I was given a prompt from Raven Sinead. This is the beginning of it. I have quite a bit of it written, and had intended it to be one long one-shot, but I went back and read what I have and realized I have multiple chapters here. So I'm going to publish it bit-by-bit like that._

_I'll let you know what the prompt was when it's finished, so as not to spoil anything now._

* * *

Liara was exhausted, but content. She had taken care of a lot of business on the Citadel, gotten in touch with her agents on the station, bought and sold a _lot_ of information, and… had a much-needed break. Samantha had wrestled her into a lunch date, and while Liara had been reluctant at first, it had ended up being just the break she needed. They had parted ways both in much higher spirits, promising to meet on the ship after Samantha had done the small amount of shopping she needed to do. Something about a new toothbrush, and visiting the gaming store she'd always wanted to visit.

Chuckling quietly to herself, Liara exited the ship's elevator, this one much faster than the one on the SR-1 had been, taking her own purchases to her room on the Crew Deck. Maybe a small nap was in order, so she could be fresh and rested when Samantha returned.

"Goddess, that does sound divine…"

Deciding that it was actually a good idea, Liara put her purchases aside, slipped out of her coat and boots, and reclined on her bed. She took a datapad with a novel uploaded on it, but in the end put herself to sleep by daydreaming, a smile on her face as she remembered some of her time with Samantha Traynor.

* * *

_The young woman's eyes clearly speak her terror. Shepard either misses it or doesn't care. Shepard has become somewhat cold and distant while she's been detained by the Alliance. Liara can hardly blame her. But Liara remembers when, not so long ago, she too was struck dumb and incoherent by Commander Shepard's mere presence._

_Hopefully Shepard will warm up soon._

_Liara smiles at the young woman with the dark skin and the even darker eyes, trying to let her know her blunder is okay. She finds the woman… intriguing._

_"Oh, I… thought you were alone," the woman stammers, clearly beyond unsettled. Her eyes are glued to Liara, and the asari wonders if the woman has ever seen an asari before? Or perhaps it is that Liara is famous in her own right, one of the Saviors of the Citadel. Not that that honorific ever got her any respect from her own people…_

_"It is all right," Liara intones, stepping away from her friend and past the newcomer. "I was just leaving."_

_She enters the elevator, unable to keep her eyes off the back of the new woman. Something intrigues her even now. As the doors to the elevator close, she realizes that it is that she finds this young human attractive. It has been a long time since she has indulged such things. She in fact has very little experience beyond a few Joinings here and there with fellow asari when she was in university. She had been interested in Shepard at first, but was rebuffed. The idea of indulging now is… frightening, and titillating._

**_You must remember that the other person must also find you attractive, Dr. T'Soni_**_, she reminds herself, feeling her face flush a little as the elevator comes to rest on the Crew Deck. She is so accustomed to getting the things she needs as the Shadow Broker that sometimes she forgets that, in her capacity as Dr. T'Soni, she must operate like a normal person, and build true relationships. She must not force the things the __**wants. **__She must speak with this woman and gauge her interest, and see if she is even a pleasant person to speak with._

_Looking into the ship's manifest, she finds the woman is Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor. She has won several chess competitions on Earth, and her name shows up on Kepesh-Yakshi tournaments. __**So she enjoys strategy games, and plays with communications tech all day. She is smart, and enjoys logic and reasoning. I'm sure I can come up with something to talk about…**_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So these chapters will get longer as I go, but these first few ones are pretty damn short. Sorry about that._

* * *

Liara awoke with a start. Opening her eyes, she couldn't immediately tell how long she'd slept. But it felt like _hours_.

"Glyph, what time is it?"

"20:00 ship-time, Dr. T'Soni."

Liara knit her brows. That was far too long. She'd slept nearly four hours. Where was Samantha? She was supposed to come here, for dinner, and… other things.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Liara rose to her feet. Accessing her omnitool, she pinged Samantha.

No answer.

Frowning, Liara tried again, with the same result. She was starting to get worried now. Changing tactics, she messaged Shepard.

_{Yeah, Liara, what's up?}_

"Shepard. I have not heard from Samantha. She was supposed to be on board hours ago. She is not answering hails to her omnitool."

_{Shit. Do you know what she was up to?}_

"She was simply doing some shopping before meeting me on board."

_{Alright. I'll have EDI do a search for her omnitool. Why don't you do your Broker thing and see if you can find her on your cameras?}_

Nodding, even though Shepard couldn't see her, she replied, "Yes, okay. Let me know the moment you find something, please."

_{Don't worry, Liara. I know she means a lot to you. I wouldn't let down my favorite asari. Besides. We're Alliance. We don't leave our own out to rot.}_

* * *

_"It scares me every time you go out there." Samantha is… angry. Frustrated. And if Liara is reading her pheromones correctly, aroused. The mixture of those in her is… enticing, to say the least._

_"Hush, Samantha. I am fine. Every time."_

_"Despite that, I don't like it. You aren't a soldier. __**I**__ have more official combat training than you do."_

_Liara gives her a look._

_"Alright, fine. That's blatantly untrue. Regardless, it frightens me. And I don't appreciate you invalidating my fear by telling me to hush."_

_Samantha stamps her foot as she says it, reminding Liara of herself, not as a petulant child, but as she had been while speaking to Shepard when they first met. Shepard began to take her along on missions only because Liara nagged her enough about not having a biotic trained in weapons along. It was untrue – she had Kaidan and Wrex both – but the fact remained that Liara did help, and was far more powerful biotically than either biotic soldier Shepard had. Liara also lent a certain… finesse to the field, relying on skill and speed more than brute strength. Shepard had said it was welcome._

_More and more she uses her biotics to muscle through the field, however. She receives more injuries than she did in the early days. Nothing serious, but still… she supposes she can't blame Samantha for her worry._

_Holding out her arms, she apologizes. "I am sorry, Samantha. You are right – I should not invalidate how you feel."_

_Samantha willingly comes into her arms then, kissing the bandage on the asari's shoulder as she slides into place. They are both minimally dressed, Samantha wearing only a tank top and underwear, Liara still wrapped in a towel, freshly showered. They just finished the drop on Tuchanka, and Liara is having a hard time not picturing Tarquin Victus and his last words. She was hoping for some distraction from Samantha, but the human is instead venting her own worries._

_"I'm sorry, this is probably a bad time. Everything that happened down there..." Samantha trails off, shaking her head before burying her face in the hollow Liara's throat. Sometimes Liara wonders if the woman doesn't have some empathic abilities, she is so good at sensing the asari's mood._

_Then she remembers that Samantha was on duty and would have heard every word._

_"It is alright, Samantha. I remember what it is like to sit on the ship feeling useless while my friends risked their lives on the ground." She pauses, takes in the scent of her new lover, feeling the alien hair on her head tickle her skin. "I simply don't have it in me right now, I think. But we should talk."_

_"Later," Samantha agrees, pressing a kiss to Liara's collarbone. "We can talk later. I just want to be with you right now."_

_Liara smiles, feeling her eyes pool to black. "Embrace Eternity," she whispers, falling into the blessed, if new, comfort of Samantha's mind even as she relaxes further into her arms._


	3. Chapter 3

"Glyph, run a search on all footage from the last five hours on Samantha Traynor on the Citadel. Any purchases she made, any footage we have. Ignore the footage of her with me."

The soft-light drone bobbed up and down, intoning, "Yes, Dr. T'Soni."

The list of digital recognitions of Samantha throughout the Citadel in the last few hours began compiling immediately. The first was a list of targeted advertisements, offering strategy games and jewelry, flowers and cosmetics, to the communications specialist. The list somewhat confused Liara, as Samantha was not actually all that interested in cosmetics or jewelry. But Samantha did like to buy little gifts for her friends, for Liara, for her parents and siblings. So her purchases throughout the last few years were likely quite varied, and the advertising VIs on the Citadel were quite thorough in tabulating people's purchase histories. There were ways of keeping one's purchases off the record, which Liara did quite a lot, but Samantha never bothered. As she put it, she didn't ever make sketchy purchases, so why go to the trouble?

_Alright. At roughly 16:00 Samantha passed an advertisement for the arcade on the Sunset Strip. I remember that, I was with her. It was as we were finishing our after-lunch walk. Then she walked in to the gaming store she told me about, and bought a game of chess… Then a few more advertisements, then… That can't be right._

The next registration of the human's omnitool, some time later, was an arms dealer? And then the seediest bar on Zakera Ward? Scanning the list, Liara saw that the omnitool was giving her pings up until about an hour ago… What in the hell was going on with Samantha?!

"Glyph, I need video footage as soon as you can get it to me."

"It should just be another minute, Dr. T'Soni."

While she waited, Liara checked Samantha's bank accounts.

* * *

_"Samantha?"_

_The human hums, shifting in Liara's arms. Liara loves the feel of Samantha in her arms. They had made love, Liara delighting in losing herself to the organized chaos that is the human's mind. Samantha has no experience in hiding anything inside her mind, and when they Join, it is a delightful whirlwind of all that the human is thinking. It is delightful because it is __**Samantha**__, even if it takes some getting used to on the part of the highly organized asari._

_"Yes, love? What is it?" Samantha purrs, dropping a kiss between Liara's breasts as she shifts from the asari's stomach up to her shoulder._

_"As a member of the Alliance, you have weapons training, yes?" She knows the answer, knows in fact that Samantha is rather skilled with a pistol, able to take out most moving targets in the training and exercise programs._

_"Yes, I do. Liara, what… what is this about?"_

_"I worry for your safety, Samantha. I worry I make you a target, that your proximity to Shepard on a daily basis makes you a target."_

_"Oh, Liara." Samantha pushes herself up some, resting on an elbow. "You worry too much, darling. I'm just a simple communications specialist."_

_Liara sits up, resting against the headboard of her bed. "Be that as it may, you still see every bit of classified information that passes through the ship's Alliance networks. You work with Commander Shepard personally, and you… you are currently lying in bed with the __**Shadow Broker**__, Samantha. It is not some idle worry – there is a very real chance someone who has a grudge against one of us might try to get to us through you."_

_Samantha just gives her a look. "I still think you're underestimating the danger, Liara. __**Nobody**__ knows you're the Shadow Broker-"_

_"That is wrong, Samantha. Cerberus knows. The Illusive Man is the one who put together the information that led me to the former Broker's ship. It was I as well as the Crucible plans that he was after on Mars. And he wants nothing more than for Shepard to be dead. If some Cerberus agent is left on the Citadel, which is quite possible despite the extra measures taken after they tried their coup, they could take you out, force mine or Shepard's hand in taking vengeance. Or they could take you hostage, which… I really cannot even abide the thought of._

_"I… I want you to at least carry a weapon with you when you're not on the ship, Samantha."_

_Samantha frowns slightly. "I can't do that, Liara. Only C-Sec or Spectres can carry on the station. You know that."_

_Liara sits forward, leaning over the bed. Sitting back up, she presents her gift. "Carry this." In her hands is a slim pistol, from her own private stock. "It is undetectable, so it shouldn't be a problem with C-Sec's scanners. And it is quite small, slim, so it shouldn't require you to wear bulky clo-"_

_"Liara, stop." Samantha sits up fully, the slight frown on her face from before now fully etching lines into her skin. "This is ridiculous. You want me to illegally carry a weapon on the Citadel! This is… it's __**ridiculous**__! I can take care of myself, Liara. I'm not… I'm not some __**child**__, or a pet you need to keep contained!"_

_Liara furrows her brows. "I __**saw**__ people trailing you yesterday-"_

_"Where?"_

_Slightly taken aback, Liara admits the truth. "On my feeds…"_

_"Dammit Liara! You can't __**stalk**__ me like that! I am a grown woman, with business of my own! You can't just __**follow me**__ with your creepy Broker resources! I don't… I don't __**belong**__ to you, Liara! I deserve some damn __**privacy**__!"_

_Liara feels righteous anger rising. She is defensive. "I do not feel I own you, Samantha. It worries me that people would trail you…"_

_"Perhaps they weren't. You don't have cameras everywhere. Perhaps they were just __**walking**__. In the same direction I was."_

_"In the same place?"_

_Samantha groans. "Yes, in the same place! It's a packed, busy space station! There are only so many directions to go! At any given time, I would be going the same direction as __**thousands**__ of other people, Liara!"_

_Liara feels chastised. It makes her petulant. "If you do not wish to carry the weapon it is fine. I will find some other way to protect-"_

_"Liara, just __**stop**__," Samantha interrupts her once more. "I don't want you to protect me. I am a capable woman. You keep telling me I'm not some coward, that I'm no less than any of you, even though I'm safe and sound on the ship. So treat me that way, dammit. Don't… wrap me in bubble wrap like I'm some porcelain doll."_

_"But, Samantha…" Liara finally drops the pistol in her lap, her shoulders slumping. "I love you. If I lost you… you are the last thing in my life. You have made me care again."_

_A warm hand appears under Liara's chin, a gentle pressure making her look up into impossibly deep, dark eyes. "I love you, too, Liara. And I understand this… protectiveness. But you can't hide me away, and you can't wrap me in a cage. Do you… do you not trust me?"_

_Liara is taken aback. "What?! Of course I trust you!"_

_Samantha smiles, a small thing, just the corners of her captivating lips quirking up. "Then trust me, love. Trust me to keep myself safe on the dark, scary Citadel. I promise if we're ever on Omega of its like, I'll carry."_

_Liara smiles, mirroring Samantha's. "I suppose that is not too much to ask. I just… worry about you."_

_Samantha gives her a sardonic look. "__**You're**__ the one who goes out with Shepard, fighting like some soldier, and nearly bleeds out on Tuchanka. You think I don't know what it's like to worry?"_

_"That is… very fair." Liara still feels a pang of guilt when that is mentioned. It was not all that long ago. She still bears a scar across her stomach that is sensitive to the touch. Samantha takes advantage of its sensitivity often. It is a relief that the human does not cower away from the reminder of the asari's near-death._

_"Come on, love," Samantha purrs into her throat, causing a shiver down the asari's spine that distracts her from her guilt. "Let's…"_

_Liara smirks, setting the pistol on her nightstand. "Embrace eternity?" she asks, offering her embrace._

_"Well, now that it's on the table…" Samantha murmurs, sliding into the asari's arms, causing another shiver to travel down her spine as her lips find the asari's pebbled skin._

_Liara's breath hitches, her eyes turning to black. "I'll see what I can do…"_


	4. Chapter 4

Samantha's credits had been spent. All of them. Her accounts were emptied in one go, siphoned off to some place even _Liara_ couldn't find. Or, at least, it would take her a great deal of time. The asari was now well and truly worried.

"Dr. T'Soni," Glyph said, getting her attention. "I have completed compiling video footage from the last five hours. There are 83 instances of Samantha Traynor alone in that time frame."

Liara turned back to her terminal, immediately accessing the VI's files and pulling up the video compilation. They were all time-stamped, and Liara pulled up the first twenty in order, displaying them on the twenty screens lining her wall. Some were from the inside of advertisements, merely of Samantha walking by, ignoring the ad. These Liara got rid of, moving the frames down the line and opening new ones until she had twenty video feeds from hidden security cameras and the like.

The first significant one - showing more than Samantha merely walking by - was of the human coming out of the gaming shop she'd mentioned, a parcel under one arm. The next was Samantha disappearing inside where she planned to buy her toothbrush. It went on like this, the videos showing Samantha shopping, security feed-by-security feed. Liara discarded all twenty, pulling up more and more mundane videos showing her lover going about normal, day-to-day chores. It wasn't until nearly the end that something changed.

Samantha stopped on a corner with some very obviously homeless youth. Desperate war refugees or former duct rats, it was difficult to say. What was strange was that the group of five were all teenagers, and a strange makeup of species. There were two males and a female human, a turian male, and even an _asari_. Homeless asari were very rare; asari families were close-knit, and it was almost unheard of for some distant aunt or great-grandmother to be unwilling to take an orphan.

It immediately made Liara suspicious.

Discarding all videos except the one showing Samantha stopping with the youths, Liara pulled up the last video… Only to gasp in shock as it showed an alleyway into which Samantha was being guided, all five teenagers surrounding her. It wasn't close enough to see Samantha's face, and there was no audio, but Liara could read the woman's body language: carefully controlled terror.

* * *

_"What will it be like?" Samantha is nervous. Liara doesn't need the meld to know that._

_"I can show you, if you like. A shallow meld."_

_"I… Alright." Samantha tightens her arm around Liara's shoulders. Her lips are close, and her sweet breath washes over Liara's face as she whispers, "I trust you."_

_Smiling, Liara pulls away slightly, taking Samantha's hands in hers. They are completely unclothed, their passionate kissing no longer enough. Liara wants, no __**needs**__, to get closer to this curious specimen before her, and skin-to-skin simply is not enough._

_"Find your peace, Samantha," she intones, remembering the sort of script given to her long ago. "Picture yourself in a peaceful place; close your eyes if you need to." She feels her eyes begin to pool to black, her hyper-dilated pupils making for a remarkable change to her vision that never lost its novelty, even 109 years after her birth. "Have you found that place, Samantha?"_

_Samantha, eyes closed and lips smiling, nods slightly. "Mmmm yes."_

_"Perfect. Take me there. Embrace eternity."_

_It is like spilling out of a cup, her Self rushing forward out of the confines of her body. She finds utter chaos ahead, and she longs to fill the cracks, sort everything and make it orderly. But her experience with Shepard has informed her of what to expect, and now she knows that this is what the undisciplined mind of a species incapable of melding is like. She holds back, merely letting the chaos wash over her as she gains her bearings._

_There! In the distance, she sees Samantha, and it is here she hastens to, fashioning herself a body so that she might exist separate from Samantha's envisioning of her Self._

_"This is a meld?" Samantha asks, coming to her. It is good that Samantha expects to see her. She accepts Samantha into her arms warmly, dropping a kiss on her cheek._

_"This is a knowledge meld," Liara clarifies, looking around. "And you have indeed taken me somewhere, just as I asked. Where are we?"_

_Samantha smiles, looking around as well. "Horizon. Home." They were in the midst of a field of grasses, a lake not far away. "I used to come out here when I was on vacation from school. I would take the dogs with me, and we would spend the whole day out here. When my brother and sister were old enough, I'd take them with me, and we'd spend the whole day swimming and running and stuffing ourselves with the meals Mum would make us."_

_"It sounds wonderful," Liara replies, looking back to Samantha's face. She gets impressions of the field with children and dogs running and laughing as Samantha speaks of it. She also gets a hint of Samantha's wistful emotions._

_Samantha turns to her, a perplexed expression upon her face. "So this… is what sex will be like? What about… what about our bodies?"_

_Liara shakes her head. "No, Samantha. The Joining is different. We will be __**very**__ aware of our bodies. But we will also be aware of each others'."_

_"Well. That's good, I suppose. Because I really want to get to know your body… Oh, dear Lord, did I say that out loud?"_

_Liara laughs. "I am inside your mind, Samantha! All you have to do is think it and I hear it. And I am preparing you for the Joining – why would I be offended by you stating that you wish to have sex with me?"_

_Samantha blushes. "This is all so new to me, Liara! I've never… dated outside my species before! I'm used to knowing what I'm doing, and how people will likely react to my… desires."_

_"Well," Liara says, drawing the human to face her. They are of a height, and it is with great relish that Liara pulls Samantha flush against her, pressing into her suggestively. "Why don't we get on with the exploring of each other's bodies and minds then?"_

_Samantha shudders, and Liara can feel her mounting anticipation. "Yes, yes let's do that."_

_Smiling, Liara deepens the meld, and when she opens her eyes again, she sees Samantha sitting on the edge of her bed, eyes open and staring into Liara's with wonder. Accompanying that gaze is the full onslaught of Samantha's emotions. _

_"Shhh, love," Liara says aloud, reaching up to caress Samantha's cheek. She can sense Samantha's wonderment, her confusion, her delight, her affection… and her arousal. "Make love to me, Samantha," she says, mentally pulling the human's attention to the matter at hand. "Show me the things you think you're so good at."_

_Smirking, a wave of competitive cockiness coming off of her, Samantha takes the asari into her arms, and they spend the rest of the afternoon exploring each other inside and out._

* * *

_A/N: An additional update! Mostly because I wanted Raven Sinead (and anyone else who is interested, I suppose) to see why I actually don't like writing smut involving asari. I picture the meld/Joining to be so alien to the human mind that I try really hard to really describe what it might be like... and it takes all the sexiness away! It's just a whole lot of effort, and I usually don't want to make it. But I made it here, at least a little bit. I hope you like it!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Shepard, I have her last known location. I am forwarding the coordinates of the security camera whose records I hacked right now."

A pause, then, _{I've got it. I'll head there with Williams. You __**stay put**__. Help us from the ship.}_

Liara frowned. "I should come with you. I am fast, I won't get in the way-"

_{We're Spectres, we'll be able to get around more easily. It's not about you getting in my way, it's about us not being her girlfriend and running into a situation we shouldn't.}_ Shepard hesitated before adding, _{I promise I will find her, Li.}_

Liara pursed her lips, swallowing her anger and her urgency. "Yes, alright, just go get her. I shudder to think what might have happened to her."

* * *

_Liara's vision is trying to go to black. She is injured, badly. Does anybody know she is injured? What were they doing?_

_An image of a husk emerges in her vision for a moment, and she remembers. She was covering Vega, Shepard, Javik, and Garrus, but she herself had been cornered. She had been attempting to open a path to herself for them. But as she simultaneously warped one husk to pieces and lifted another into the air, one of those large brutes had made its presence known, calling away the attention of her friends and rescuers. Then a third husk had roared its wretched roar, jumping on top of her from the rocks by which she had taken refuge._

_And now she lies bleeding in the wastes of Tuchanka, her friends nowhere to be seen, a great weight on her legs. She had managed to lift her pistol and shoot the husk through its gut, but it had done… __**something**__ to her first. Now it lies across her knees, its tech-laden body heavier than any human of its size. The asari is not sure if she can feel her toes. What if she loses them? What if she loses her life? What about Samantha? What will the human do? This is exactly what they had argued about the night before, when she had returned from Tarquin Victus's death. And now here she is, attempting to cure the genophage, and instead is bleeding out on Tuchanka's surface._

**_By the goddess, Wrex has better appreciate this._**

_{Liara! Liara, are you all right? What happened?!}_

_Liara blinks. "Samantha?"_

_{Liara, thank God.} It is Samantha, and she sounds beyond relieved. {Your comm. channel disappeared off the map. I'm routing directly into your omnitool. But I can't get your location. Where are you? Is everything all right? Shepard and the others moved off when one of those big scary brutish krogan things came along.}_

_"Samantha…" It is hard to vocalize, so Liara whispers instead. "Samantha, I… I don't know how to say this."_

_There is a pause. {Say what?} The specialist's tone is clipped. Liara can hear the dread, the barely-contained panic, the fear._

_"Samantha, I think I am dying." Concise, to the point, no sprinkling of candy… that's how the human saying goes, isn't it? Something to that effect._

_There is no response. But Liara can sense Samantha there, over the silence of the open comm channel._

_"Samantha… I love you…" It is the first time she says it aloud, not during their Joinings._

_{Hold tight, Liara. I'm routing Shepard in.}_

_"Samantha," Liara tries again. She feels cold, lethargic. Everything hurts… and yet she feels none of it. She can barely see for the black crowding her vision. "Samantha, I love you…"_

_A beat. {I love you, too, Liara. Here's Shepard.}_

_{Liara!} Shepard's voice fills the space around her, and it is only then that she realizes the communication is coming from the speaker of her omnitool. Her earbud must have broken. {Hold tight, Liara! We had to draw that thing away! Traynor says you're hurt. Just hold tight!}_

_"Shepard, I…" Even whispering is hard now. But the pain is gone. As is the cold. In fact, there is a warmth around her. It is pervasive. It reminds her of Samantha._

_{Dammit, Liara! You __**will**__ get off this rock alive! That is an __**order**__, T'Soni!}_

_A few seconds pass in an eternity, and then her friends are there. A sharp stinging pain across her cheek brings her awareness back to the fore._

_"Liara! Stay with me! I'm gonna have James take you back to an extraction point. You are __**not**__ dying on my watch. You hear me, T'Soni?"_

_It is Shepard. As the commander speaks, Liara feels strong arms lift her, gently, like a small child._

_"I got you, Blue. Let's get you out of the hot zone, and then I'll check you out, alright?"_

_The pain has come back with her awareness. Dimly, Liara knows this is a good thing. The black has stopped encroaching on her vision. But she is weak, and cold, and cannot muster the energy to speak to Vega._

_Samantha's voice emerges from her omnitool. {Liara? Do they have you? What's going on?}_

_"I've got her, Sam, don't worry," Vega replies. The look on his face makes it clear __**he's**__ worried._

_{Why won't she speak? James, what's wrong?!}_

_"She's hurt, Sam. Just give me a minute."_

_Liara can feel that Vega is trying not to jostle her too much as he runs, but it hurts nonetheless. An interminable amount of time later, though, she hears the familiar sound of the shuttle. Cortez has stayed on hand for just such an eventuality._

_"Alright, Liara. This is gonna hurt. But I need to get some medigel on you. I don't need a scan to tell me the worst of your injuries."_

_She screams, a great tearing sensation ripping through her abdomen. The only thing keeping her from passing out is Vega's hard slap across her face after he removes her chest plate. Then the numbing effects of the medigel kick in, and the pain ebbs. It doesn't fade completely, and if she tries to move, it comes roaring back to life. But the numbing, cooling sensation is very different from the cold settling in her fingers and toes._

_The fact that she can feel her toes getting cold is reassuring that she's not paralyzed. However, it also highlights that she is not yet out of danger. Vega's ministrations are a stop-gap at best._

_Vega talks to her as they ride the five minutes to the Normandy. She hears Samantha through her omnitool, as well. But she does not understand them. Is it that she is that out of it? Or are they speaking in Spanish? She hears Cortez's voice as well, and she knows that Samantha is fluent in Spanish, even if she does not have the Hispanic background of the other two. It is a beautiful language that Liara knows none of. She knows quite a bit of English. One must when working with an English-speaking crew. They tend to throw English in when they speak Standard Galactic, so Liara began learning it on the first Normandy, as a way to get closer to the crew. It worked, though it never enamored her with Shepard._

_She begins thinking about her time loving Shepard, when she was too shy to make a move. Once she finally did, Shepard would not have her. She was not interested, the human had said, was in fact involved with Williams, but she hoped they could be friends. They are friends now. It pleases Liara that they are. And she is honestly happy for Shepard and Williams. She knows they will reconcile._

_It takes until the shuttle door opens for Liara to realize she is speaking about Shepard aloud, and largely unfiltered. __**But it had been so painful to speak before…**_

_She regains consciousness without realizing she was about to lose it. She is in the medbay. Her vision is crystal clear, and the pain in her abdomen is sharp for a moment before it fades to a dull throb._

_"Liara!" Samantha is there immediately, her warm hands on the asari's face. She is crying, big salty tears falling from her eyes into Liara's blankets._

_"Shhh, Samantha, I am alright."_

_"Barely," the woman bites back, her anger replacing her worry very quickly. "Dammit, Liara, this is what I was talking about last night! You aren't a soldier! You don't wear heavy armor! Your biotics can't save you from everything! I… God, you scare me __**every time**__, Liara!"_

_Liara doesn't have the energy to get defensive. "I know," she says, quiet, her eyes not leaving Samantha's watery gaze. "I know, Samantha. But I must. There is no other choice I could make that I could live with myself for making."_

_Samantha's anger melts away, leaving only fatigue, worry, and relief. She lowers herself to Liara's chest, and the asari makes what room she can, coaxing the human to lie on the biobed with her, letting her weep into the asari's bare shoulder._

_Liara cannot do anything but what she does. She accepts that this means she must also pick up the pieces when she returns. Initiating a shallow meld, she tells Samantha this, promising to do her best to always return._

* * *

_A/N: To clarify the timeline of what you've read so far, because I know it's confusing when I don't write it chronologically - Liara sees Sam for the first time, then they Join for the first time, then Sam tries to yell at Liara about not being soldier, then this chapter where Liara is injured (the very next day), and then sometime later is Liara trying to get Sam to illegally carry a weapon on the Citadel._

_I bet that didn't help at all. Oh well. I tried. And there will be more to confuse it all further. ~Shrug~_


	6. Chapter 6

_{Liara, we've got her! She… fuck, this isn't good. Send a shuttle. Put Chakwas on it.}_

"Shepard!" Liara had been listening as Shepard and Williams made their way to the alleyway, but they had been mostly quiet. Until now. "Shepard, what happened?!"

_{She's hurt, Li. Bad.} _

"Dammit Shepard! What happened?!"

_{Looks like she took one hell of a beating; she's unconscious. Now do what I said!}_

Her hands starting to shake, Liara did as she was told. She then grabbed the slim pistol she had tried to get Samantha to carry, as well as a shield generator, and put herself on the shuttle, too, though she knew Shepard would not be pleased. She would not be kept from the woman she loved. She must be there.

* * *

_Liara smiles as the children Jack mentors celebrate with her. They have gotten out of Grissom Academy alive, and with the adrenaline rush accompanying the wash of relief, they are indeed in a celebratory mood. Shepard says they are ready to be in the action when the time comes, and Jack promises them all tattoos. _

_Spirits are very high. So high that Rodriguez grabs Prangley - the only two whose name Liara knows - and plants a kiss firmly on his lips. They separate and stare blinking at each other for a moment before they both start kissing the other again._

_"Whoa, calm down, guys! Keep your clothes on!" Jack laughs as she yells at them, not making any move to actually cool them off._

_"Spoken like a true hypocrite," Shepard says with a grin, elbowing Jack in the ribs. "When we met, you didn't even have a damn shirt on! And it took you way too long to get one, too."_

_Jack just grins right back, holding herself steady using the bar above her. Liara cannot help but smile at the two of them. They are alike in many ways. Kindred spirits with similarly – if not to the same degree – tortured pasts. Liara knows it is what attracted Shepard to Williams from the get-go. Growing up as a street kid, Shepard had been taken in by a gang that would beat her if she made even the slightest mistake. She had been molested and raped until she'd learned to defend herself. Shepard was extremely protective of those smaller and weaker than herself as a result, and had a longing for a true family so deep that Liara could sense it even in their first knowledge meld. Williams had a very strong family, and as a result very strong family values. It was obvious why Shepard was drawn to her from the moment they met._

_Shepard had been an enigma to the asari, and the timid archaeologist had hoped to be the one to soothe the ache in the human soldier. But Shepard had pursued Williams, and Williams had been receptive, leaving Liara to try desperately to be both of their friend. In the end she had managed, taking comfort and delight in the presence of so many friends like Tali, Chakwas, and the others. She had gotten past her more-than-crush, less-than-love and now truly appreciated both humans as friends._

_Besides. Liara had a new interest, and she had an extreme advantage this time. The scents humans gave off which they themselves could not consciously detect were something asari could detect __**very**__ well. Liara did not know it until too late that the positive signals she was picking up from Shepard were not released for her but instead for Williams. Now, however, Liara was intimately familiar with them, given how much time she had spent around humans in the last three years. A lot of time for study._

_And the signals she picks from Specialist Traynor say all the right things to Liara. She knows that all systems are go, as the humans say, and is simply biding her time. Traynor may be interested, but Liara does not wish to come on too strong, to scare her. The specialist has confessed she has remarkably little experience with people not of her own species, and Liara is sure that her attraction to the asari is… confusing. Liara does not wish to further her discomfort. She can wait._

_They are on the ship momentarily, pulling Liara's thoughts out of her memories of Shepard and Williams and Traynor and focusing them on arranging housing for the children until they can get them back to the Citadel – a twenty-four hour journey._

_"Li, you're hurt."_

_Liara turns to see Shepard looking at her leg. Looking down, Liara sees sapphire blood on her armor pads._

_"Strange. I cannot even feel it."_

_"Go up to Chakwas. We'll finish figuring out where to put the kids," Shepard insists, muscling the asari toward the elevator._

_"Very well," Liara concedes, entering the command for the Crew Deck._

_Twenty minutes later she is walking into her quarters in only her under-armor, Vega retrieving her armor from the medbay and returning it to the shuttle bay. The armor had been penetrated by a bullet, the projectile grazing the flesh of the asari's leg. Liara now has a bandage – a flexible sealant covering a wound packed with medigel – and can go about her business as normal. She begins stripping as soon as the door is shut, stepping into her shower and sighing contentedly when the warm water hits her skin. She is just stepping back out of the shower when her door's chime sounds._

_"Just a moment," she calls, pulling on a robe. Opening her door, she smiles to see a somewhat unsure-looking Specialist Traynor standing with a bottle and two flutes. _

_"Specialist Traynor! Come in, please."_

_"Oh, I couldn't! I'm sure I would be disturbing you! I'll come back another t-"_

_Liara silences her with a look. "Please, I insist. You are clearly in a celebratory mood. I would learn what we are celebrating."_

_Reluctantly, the specialist steps in. She is wearing her work uniform still. Her boots make soft sounds against the metal flooring of Liara's quarters. It makes Liara smile. Traynor is soft-spoken even with her steel-toed boots._

_"What is the occasion?" Liara asks, beckoning Traynor toward the bedchamber and its sofas._

_"I… Well, I suppose it's silly to you, but that was, in some ways, my first mission, as it were."_

_"Oh?"_

_Traynor blushes. "I was the one who found the fake turian signal, with EDI's help, of course. We wouldn't have helped them if I hadn't told the commander about it."_

_Liara smiles as she sits down, making sure her robe does not fall open. She does not miss how Traynor's eyes follow the movement of her legs. "That is wonderful, Traynor! Something to be proud of, for sure."_

_Traynor sits, eyes on her bottle. "I… I wanted to celebrate, and I immediately thought of you. I know you're busy, but you're my only real friend so far on the ship, and-"_

_"Traynor," Liara interrupts, getting the woman's attention. "You should be proud. I would love to celebrate with you." Pausing a moment, Liara muses aloud on Traynor's hesitation. "Let me guess. You do not feel like you belong here. You feel less a member of the Alliance as your fellow soldiers who go to the ground or maintain weapons or fly shuttles. You feel you do not contribute, and it chafes at you. So with this you feel you have truly, actually carried your weight, as it were." She smiles at Traynor's shocked expression. "I take it I've hit close to home?"_

_Traynor merely whispers, "How on Earth did you know?"_

_Liara smiles slyly. "Because I was actually describing to you exactly how I felt when I first joined the SR-1. It took going on a mission and putting my Prothean knowledge to work, as well as my biotics and weapons training, to make me stop feeling that way. For you, it is putting your communications and tech knowledge to work that makes you feel like you are contributing, yes? You saved lives today, Traynor. That is what we do. You are more than one of us."_

_Traynor blushes, her dark skin taking on a distinctly reddish hue that makes Liara's heart melt a little. "Yes, yes that is exactly how I am feeling."_

_"Well then," Liara murmurs, getting close and taking the bottle of champagne from the human's hands. "Let's celebrate, shall we?"_

_She pauses, realizing just how close she has gotten. Traynor's lips are mere inches away. She can feel the warmth emanating from the human. Their fingers are touching on the bottle. Time seems to slow for a moment, and Liara is aware of Traynor's hitched breathing, her tensed muscles. It is the pheromones that do the asari in, however. Specialist Samantha Traynor is veritably __**begging**__ Liara T'Soni to ravish her right there on that sofa._

_Liara cannot ravish her. It is too soon. She doesn't even really know much about human physiology, nor does Traynor know of her own physiology. But she __**can**__ kiss her._

_Closing the remaining distance between them, Liara presses her lips gently into Traynor's. She flicks out her tongue, pleased that it seems to flip a switch in the communications specialist. Traynor abandons the bottle to Liara's grip, wrapping both hands around Liara's waist and pulling the asari to straddle her lap. Somehow Liara puts the bottle on a flat surface and doesn't drop it to smash to bits on her floor, but she doesn't know how, as she is far too enamored with the smell of the human who is in her arms. Already she longs to reach out with her mind, but she holds off, knowing that would be far too much, far too soon._

_Instead she focuses on Traynor's taste – coffee and sugar – and her smell, and the feel of her body moving. Traynor's tongue flicks out to meet hers, and somehow they both decide at the same time to deepen the kiss. Liara buries her fingers in that luscious, alien hair, her tongue and the human's dancing first in her own mouth, then in Traynor's. It is heaven, and it is the perfect resolution to the tension that has built between them since she first opened a conversation with the human about strategy and logic games._

_Eventually, they must separate, the need for oxygen overpowering their need for each other. Panting, smiling, looking into each others' eyes, Traynor is the one to speak first._

_"You can call me Samantha, if I can call you Liara?"_

_Liara bursts out laughing. Nodding her head, she dives in for another heavenly kiss._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Hi all! Posting this while internet is working. I'm on vacation with my wife's family, and it's wonderful, but the internet is pretty crap and I have a bum leg right now so I can't even really walk to a coffee shop nearby all that well. So posting (and writing) will be sporadic at best. But I wanted to at least get this posted. We're now all caught-up to what I've written._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

The shuttle door opened to reveal Shepard cradling a figure in her arms.

_That must be Samantha…_

"Chakwas! She's got a head injury, and multiple contusions and lacerations! From the looks of it, she took a beating – I'd put my money on some very dangerous internal injuries."

Shepard put the woman down on the floor of the shuttle, the craft immediately taking off again. Williams went up front to speak with Vega, who had been the only one in the shuttle bay when Liara had made her emergency call for a shuttle, and thus the only one available to do this pickup.

Liara got a good look at Samantha once Shepard stepped back. "Samantha!" she called, alarmed, immediately dropping to the woman's side. Her face looked much like Williams's had after Mars: multiple shades of bruising, two black eyes, a clearly broken nose. Her hair was mussed, her clothing ripped in places. What upset Liara most were the finger-shaped bruises above the human's collarbone. They filled her with a rage she had never felt before, not even when first seeing the extent of the torture to which Feron had been submitted.

"Liara! Liara, out of the way!" Liara did not register the words until strong hands gripped her tunic and bodily lifted her. It was like time sped back up, and she looked around wildly to find Shepard lifting the asari and pressing her back to the bulkhead. Shepard wasn't even looking at her, though. Her gaze was on Samantha. Following it, Liara saw Chakwas beginning her work.

"You have a concussion," Chakwas was saying, reading off her omnitool even as she prepared field medication. "You poor dear, it looks like you took a boot to the face. Despite the bruises on your neck you haven't been asphyxiated, which is good – concussion does not mix well with a lack of oxygen to the brain. I also see some broken ribs, and some bleeding into your abdomen. I need my equipment on the Normandy to know the full extent, though, dear. But I think it's safe to say, if you're still unconscious, our most immediate concerns are intracranial swelling and…"

Chakwas was actually talking quietly to Samantha, as though she was awake and aware. Liara was familiar with it, as she had spent quite a lot of time around Doctor Karin Chakwas. Some people narrated their work to themselves as they did it. Chakwas narrated it to her patients. It was a… quirk, nothing more, but one Liara loved, as it unconsciously humanized her patients. Chakwas was constantly reminding herself that she was working on a real live person, and it kept her empathetic and yet hard-working even in the midst of horrific trauma.

"Just a few minutes, Doc," Shepard said quietly, finally looking back to Liara, getting her attention. Green eyes burned with a fire that matched Liara's own. "Just a few minutes, and we'll have her in the best medbay with the best doctor."

* * *

_A chirping awakens Liara. She opens her eyes, looking toward the nightstand from which the chirping originates._

_It is an omnitool. Samantha's omnitool._

_On the third chirp, Samantha awakens as well._

_"Fucking Christ, Liara, are you getting a call this early?" she moans, turning over and burying her face in the asari's breasts._

_Liara chuckles, pulling away so she can nuzzle the human's face. "Samantha, it is __**your**__ omnitool. Someone is calling you."_

_Samantha moans something unintelligible before freezing. "Shit. I bet…" She trails off, turning and reaching for her omnitool. "I've been trying to get a call in to them for ages." She fumbles it, and in retrieving it from where it falls must accidentally activate it, because suddenly a screen is projected in front of them._

_"Samantha! Christ, you better be happy Mum had me try you without being in the room herself!"_

_Liara lets out a yelp and covers herself by diving behind Samantha, the human pulling the sheet over herself a moment later. The image projected is of a young human female. From the familiarity between Samantha and the young woman – and the family resemblance (Liara has become somewhat of an expert at humans' subtle facial features) – Liara guesses that this is Samantha's sister, who Liara has learned is sixteen years old and nearing adulthood. The fast maturation of humans is still something that is unfamiliar to Liara, and she has no context for human ages until she juxtaposes them to asari maturation. It doesn't help that asari, relative to their lifespans, actually become sexually mature much more quickly than humans._

_"Elizabeth! Thank God it's only you," Samantha replies, clearly relieved as her posture relaxes. She is holding the sheet over her breasts, and Liara is still only covered by being pressed to Samantha's naked back._

_The girl is now smirking. "So I see I interrupted your 'work.'"_

_Samantha barks a laugh. "Shut up, you twit! This is… Oh, God, I hadn't planned on a family introduction…"_

_"Well, you're lying naked together, and it's starting to get weird, so just introduce me, and then go put some damn clothes on before Mum, Dad, and Jason get in here."_

_Samantha nods. "Yes, right. Elizabeth, this is Liara T'Soni. She's… well, I suppose she's my girlfriend."_

_The term is odd to Liara – so human- and gender-centric. But she nonetheless nods and smiles. The term is pleasing in some ways, as Samantha is comfortable enough in their love and affection to claim Liara in that way. Besides, it is hardly surprising that the human would frame their relationship in terms she is familiar with._

_"Pleased to meet you, Elizabeth," Liara says, knowing that her tone does not betray how embarrassed she truly is. She long ago learned to school her expression, and her bodily reactions, meaning she also does not blush unless she __**wants**__ to. Allowing her skin to flush when flattered was one of the ways she would deliberately flirt with Samantha when they first became friends._

_"Likewise, Liara," the girl says, her smile turning warm instead of suggestive. It falters immediately, however. "Shit, they're coming. Clothes, Sammy!"_

_"Right you are!" Samantha exclaims, flinging the sheet she had been clutching over her omnitool to cover the camera. She then leaps out of bed, searching the floor._

_"Dammit, where is my bra?" the specialist whispers._

_Liara, having pulled on a robe, reaches for the lampshade and pulls Samantha's brassiere off of it, holding it out to her with a smirk. The specialist retrieves it with an answering smirk before strapping it on._

_"Aren't you going to put clothes on, as well?" Samantha asks._

_Liara furrows her brows. "Why? I will do some work while you speak with your family. They will not see me."_

_Samantha halts mid-dressing, her fatigues and bra on and her undershirt in her hands. "But… well, I'd like you to meet them, Liara. If… if you're amenable, that is." Liara doesn't answer right away, and Samantha blunders on as she often does when left with silence while nervous. "It's just that we're in the middle of a war, and I don't even know if I'll see them all again, or if they'll even get a chance to meet you in person-"_

_"Samantha," Liara says softly, and the specialist quiets. "Calm down, love. I would love to meet your family. Let me put some clothing on."_

_Liara works quickly, covering her moment of fragility with fastening on her leggings and undershirt. When Samantha mentioned the possibility of Liara never getting to meet her parents, the asari was immediately reminded of her mother, and it is unexpectedly painful. Benezia was… powerful, stoic, oft-times cut off from adult-Liara. But when she had been small, Benezia had been the light of her life, always available for her, melding with her as they fell asleep in their traditional communal bed. It was only as Liara began to ask questions about her father that Benezia stopped melding with her. Liara would probe for the information during their melds, unmindful that it was so painful to her mother, that Benezia had had a love that could actually have lasted her whole life but had done something unforgiveable and driven her love away._

_In the end, as she was dying and her mind was once more her own, Benezia had told Liara how proud of her she was. Shepard didn't know it – no one did – but Liara had almost-unconsciously reached out with her mind then, so powerful was the impulse to not let her mother die with the Watch if she could manage it, but her mother had mentally batted her away, dying alone and fully conscious of it. Her last words had been that her promised Light was not there, and Liara had wept to know that she could have offered her mother that last gift of peace, to order a chaotic mind and soothe it into unconsciousness before the body died. She could have done it! But Benezia, ever the mother, had silently and stoically denied her to save her, without explanation, and while Liara logically knew that melding with an indoctrinated mind could have far-reaching consequences, still the asari was bitter and pained to think her mother could not trust her in this._

_It took many assurances and much distance in time for Liara to come to the place she was now: Benezia had been a hard person, but had done the best she could to prepare Liara for the world, and had loved her so much that even with her dying breath the matriarch had protected the young archaeologist from herself. Given those others Liara knew with dead parents or imperfect upbringings – Shepard, Tali, Operative Lawson, Williams, among many others – it was more than she could have hoped for to have her mother genuinely love and care for her that much._

_Liara speaks with her mother sometimes. She does not fancy that Benezia speaks back per se, but there is a certain… warmth that sometimes settles over her as she is entering or exiting sleep. Her memories and dreams of her mother are more vivid those days. She does not know if her mother touches her in her sleep, but there is a measure comfort taken in the Old Ways of the Athame Doctrine – every asari is a drop of the goddess Athame, and when they return to the sea in death, they are rejoining the goddess, giving her their experiences of the world. And sometimes, the goddess reaches a grieving asari as she falls asleep or awakens, when she is most susceptible, and a mother can be with her daughter again. Scientifically it is silly to think it true, but Liara nonetheless finds some comfort in the notion. And scientific fact cannot erase what she feels upon waking, time and time again._

_And she cannot deny that she feels it more often now with Samantha in her life than without. It is like she was spiritually asleep in that time between Shepard's death and being rescued on Mars. A small yet persistent voice inside of Liara insists this is Benezia's approval, and that makes Liara intensely happy._

_And so she is pleased to meet Samantha's family, though it presses against an old wound that will never fully heal. And that ache, and the wistfulness it carries with it, is a mark of growing older. Williams has described it as entrance to the "world's suckiest club": the Dead Parent Club. Membership is nonconsensual and irreversible, and immediately makes one wise beyond one's years._

_Liara has never been able to deny the description's aptness, no matter how crudely – yet succinctly – Williams explains it._

_Liara finishes with her ribbed tank top, an invention of the humans that Liara has come to favor. Samantha comes up behind her, running her hot hands up the asari's bare arms, cupping her shoulders for a moment. Then those dark-skinned hands appear in Liara's view, wrapping around the asari's shoulders and pulling her close._

_The specialist kisses her cheek, whispers, "Thank you, love."_

_Liara smiles. The ache is persistent, but this… this soothes it, eases it, and it is with a gentle warmth in her heart – and the image of Benezia wearing yellow in her mind – that she joins Samantha in front of her computer terminal, transferring the call to the vid-screen in front of them._


	8. Chapter 8

The Normandy was pandemonium, even given the fact that almost everyone was on shore leave. Shepard continued to hold Liara back, allowing Williams to carry Samantha to the lift while Chakwas followed behind, holding the IV bag up as she followed hot on the second human Spectre's heels.

"Shepard, let me go," Liara yelled, wanting, _needing_, to be in that elevator with her lover.

Shepard didn't respond, merely holding fast around Liara's waist, immovable, like a stone guardian of old. As soon as the doors to the elevator closed, however, Shepard released her. But it was too late. Liara ran to hit the elevator's call button, turning to glare at the commander.

"Explain yourself, Shepard," she demanded.

Shepard merely stared back at her. "She needs room to do her work. You know that, Liara."

"And _you_ know I would not get in their way, Shepard!"

Shepard's expression hardened some. "And what if you didn't? What if Williams had to turn away from medically assisting so she could hold you back? What if they had to do something you couldn't handle seeing?"

"I…"

"She has a concussion so bad she's _still unconscious_, Liara. Even the stupidest jarheads know that means swelling, fluid in the cranium. She might have to perform brain surgery, Liara. You saying you wanna be there to see that, or God forbid you're asked to make a fucking _decision_?! Trust me," Shepard finished, her voice now quiet. "It's easier to have that decision out of your own hands." Liara is immediately reminded of her own prodding of Shepard as Ashley lay bruised and beaten in the medbay. "Chakwas is good. You know you can trust her to make the right decisions."

Liara remained quiet, staring hard at her friend. She was having a hard time processing the words, but somewhere inside she knew the woman was correct. Before she could truly figure it out, though, the elevator chimed, the doors sliding open to admit them. The two women entered, hitting the command to take them to the Crew Deck.

"You are right, Shepard. I am just… so worried."

Shepard sighed, putting her hand on Liara's shoulder. "I know, Liara. I'm so sorry. Whoever did this… they're gonna pay."

Liara nodded absently, not concerned with those that did this right at this moment.

* * *

_They make love, and it is like a rainbow of colors. The colors continue even after they climax, swirling and flowing into each other. Liara focuses on the color yellow, her mother's favorite, and therefore her own favorite – even if she never wears it or decorates with it._

**_Show me your mother, Liara?_**

_It is not a request in words, more a… wordless suggestion. A direct thought. Liara is in a happy place. And this is as close as Samantha can get to meeting Benezia…_

_The color yellow bursts before them. Liara allows the memories to flow over them as they come to her, not attempting to organize it into any chronology._

_But it does start with Benezia in her most gorgeous of yellow dresses. She walks up to a small Liara, who reaches for her insistently, reaching out for a meld with her undisciplined child's mind. Benezia's arms are strong, and they go on forever. She exists in this memory without the ceremonial headdress that she wore most of Liara's adulthood, allowing tiny Liara to fiddle with her head crest when they swim or bathe together, or when lying together in bed._

_Another memory rises to the fore. Liara is still small, but this time she is weightless. Asari have an affinity for the water, and retain the ability to absorb a small amount of oxygen from water, allowing them to hold their breaths far longer than humans. Babies of most placental species are good swimmers anyway, but asari babies could stay in the water for hours if their mothers let them – and they often did. Liara is especially happy in the water, paddling around, seeking out her mother's warmth before launching away from her. She climbs on her mother, pulling her deeper into the sea. She loves the sea near their home. She could stay there forever._

_When she is older, yet still a young child, she is ridiculed for her pureblood heritage. She doesn't know to ask her mother why she would mate with another asari, nor to ask who her father is. All she knows to ask Benezia is __**why**__ the other children would tease her so. This memory is the first time Samantha interjects herself, a mental wave of comfort and love surrounding Liara in a lovely cocoon._

_Liara smiles, moves on, showing Samantha more and more of her mother._

_Unbidden rises the darkest time, when her mother dies. Benezia stands before Liara, body rippling with biotic energy. Liara sweats, panting, despite the cold of Noveria, despite the temperature regulation in her hard suit. Her fingers tremble around the handle of the pistol she wields. She cannot do it. Benezia is in front of herself and Shepard, has Tali hanging in the air and Ashley bleeding on the ground, but Liara cannot put an end to the life of her mother. She can't do it._

_Shepard does it instead. Regret coming off of her in waves, Shepard plants a bullet in the matriarch's stomach._

_There is a shift, then. Shock radiates off of Samantha as she is shown Benezia's remarkable transformation. Samantha's grip strengthens on Liara in the present, their naked bodies interlocked on Liara's bed as they both listen to Benezia tell Liara that she is __**proud**__. It is the first mention of what indoctrination truly is like, and it horrifies both Liara and Samantha that Benezia has suffered so. When Benezia's true mind retreats behind the indoctrination once more, the grief both of them experience is very real. Liara is finally able to muster the strength to do what must be done._

_Hand no longer shaking, she lifts her pistol, ending her mother's life as the indoctrinated monster the matriarch has become lunges at her._

_"Oh God, Liara!" Samantha is sobbing now. Liara shallows the meld, tears on her own cheeks as she gathers the human woman into her arms._

_"I am sorry, Samantha," she breathes, kissing the salt on the woman's cheeks. "I should not have shown you that."_

_Samantha merely shakes her head. From the very shallow meld Liara knows Samantha means it as "it's not your fault, I asked to see her." And it follows that prominent among Liara's memories of her mother would be this utterly devastating one. The guilt still haunts her. She killed her own mother._

_"You did __**not**__, Liara!" Samantha says sternly, her sobs ebbing under her righteous anger. "__**Saren**__ killed her. Saren forced your hand. And the reapers forced his. You're avenging her in all of this. As is Shepard. As am I, in my own small way."_

_Despite the grief in her mind and heart, and the crying woman in her arms, Liara smiles. She hadn't thought of that. She likes it. __**I am fighting to avenge my mother's death…**_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Vague M warning in this one. The story finally earned it's rating! Barely._

_Also, if this is too sad, you have Raven to blame._

* * *

Liara shifted in her seat. She'd been sitting or standing and pacing outside the medbay for hours. Garrus held vigil with her for a time, helping her stare aimlessly at the clouded medbay windows. Tali came by as well. They are very good friends. Shepard came by a time or two, but mostly has been gone, doing what, Liara didn't know. She felt… lost. There has been no prognosis yet. Liara didn't have any idea what was going on in there.

Williams was still in the medbay, as well, assisting the doctor. She had extensive medical training in her early days with the Alliance, was now a trained field nurse, as talented at assisting a doctor in surgery as she was in giving her enemies a reason for surgery. It is a… strange balance of talents, but Williams has never expressed guilt or reticence about it. She is life-long military, from a family of military. She knows where she stands, and what she is fighting for.

Liara reached up to her neck as she thought, fingering a delicate sliver of a necklace. Samantha gave it to her just a week ago. One of many gifts the specialist has gotten for the asari. It was a simple silver chain with a single, small diamond pendant on it – an Alliance soldier cannot afford much, especially during wartime. But it was lovely, and Samantha got something that would _last_, paying sharp attention to quality within the confines of what she could afford to spend.

Liara frowned, her fingers immediately travelling to her left hand. It was a human tradition that was meaningless to Liara until she looked it up after some of the human crew spoke about it on the SR-1. She thought it strange, but pleasant and simple. She began noticing them on a lot of humans wherever she went, as well as asari bonded to humans. Now _she_ wore one. Given to her the very night before. Also silver, with another single diamond in it.

What will she do if Samantha does not survive this?

* * *

_Liara stands at her workstation in her quarters. She is wearing very little, enjoying the chill of the room. It is cold in space. The ship is kept at a temperature that allows the electrical equipment to run and no warmer. It makes the heavy layers of the Alliance uniforms more than necessary, but it conserves vital energy. Sometimes, though, Liara does this, enjoying the chill._

_Samantha lies naked in her bed, snuggled up in the covers cozily. Liara pushes through her work. It is vital to be done as soon as possible. She will be freezing by the time it is done, but she has a warm bed and a warm woman to return to when she is through._

_Finally, after nearly an hour of standing barefoot before the monitors, she is through. Glyph can monitor and compile data, but it cannot do everything. It cannot make decisions, decide what is important and what to actually __**do **__with information. It can only collect it and analyze it for trends._

_Liara's toes are cold, her limbs stiff, as she walks softly back to bed. She removes the one nod toward clothing she made when she awoke to do work – her undergarments – and gently pulls the blanket away from Samantha so she can slide under it._

_"Oh, God, you're bloody freezing!" Samantha yells, making it clear she had not been fully asleep by waking up so swiftly. "Why do you do this, Liara?"_

_Liara smiles sheepishly, shrugging. "Sometimes I enjoy the chill."_

_"Well," Samantha says, turning away from the asari, "if you think you're going to-" She breaks off in a squeal. Liara, knowing exactly what the specialist was about to complain about, took both feet and placed them firmly against the small of the human's back. It is unlike her to be this playful, but the human woman brings it out in her._

_Soon they are in a wrestling competition, Liara trying to find new places to freeze the woman while Samantha tries in vain to find the asari's most ticklish spots. Liara enjoys the playfulness, the intimacy, juxtaposed so tragically against the horrors of this war. _

_They lost Thessia days ago, are now on the Citadel so that they may restock and refuel. Samantha tracked down where Kai Leng likely went, and while she had felt accomplished for it, she had come to Liara to help her grieve. The asari was devastated – still __**is**__, in fact – but she also feels foolish. She felt sad for her friends losing their home planets, watched the horror in Samantha's heart as the human shared her experience of losing Earth to the reapers, but she had never thought… Oh, she was so foolish! She never thought Thessia would fall, never imagined she would see this pain for herself._

_Even having __**seen**__ it in Samantha, she had not anticipated it being so visceral._

_She has been doing better, though. It lit an even brighter fire. She will track down Kai Leng and make him pay, for Thane's death, for the fall of Thessia, and for falling prey to the creatures who took her mother from this world before they could truly reconcile. The fire feels good. She is sad, angry, but mostly she is determined. Cerberus will not get away with this._

_Tonight they finally made love again since Thessia fell. It was wonderful, and cleansing, healing the wound in her heart. Thessia fell, but the asari have not. Nobody in this galaxy is just rolling over and taking it from the reapers, least of all herself and Samantha. They affirm life, and they celebrate that they have not just survived but prospered, finding love in the most unlikely of places._

_The possible end of the world has a way of setting one's priorities._

_There was a wall this time as they made love, but Liara is not upset by it. It is a wall that is surrounded by… giddiness. Samantha has something planned. And she has learned to keep it from Liara. The asari cannot wait to find out what it is._

_Samantha wins the wrestling match, pinning Liara's wrists above her head and digging her fingers into the asari's groin, her most ticklish of spots. It immediately makes the asari laugh, bucking and kicking to get the human off. She could use biotics, but that would hardly be fair. Continued tickling only serves to arouse her, however, something Samantha well knows._

_Soon she is bucking into the human's fingers in orgasm, Samantha's hands buried deep inside of her as she fights the urge to reach out with her mind. Asari can have orgasms without the meld, just as they can Join without the need of physical sex, but it is never a fulfilling thing until done with the Joining. It excites Liara to know that they are not nearly done this night._

_Having Samantha be so assertive is also incredibly thrilling._

_But almost as soon as Liara has settled from her climax, Samantha is gone. _

_"Samantha?"_

_The human returns swiftly, straddling Liara's lap, a large grin on her face._

_"Samantha? What's going on?" Liara suspects something. Surely she is about to be drenched in ice water for her earlier transgressions._

_The human reaches for her hand, pulling her to sit. "Liara, I… God, I just love you so much. And I can't stand the idea of not letting you know just how much. I…"_

_She flushes furiously, her dark skin taking on a distinct red hue. Liara is perplexed. She reaches up, cupping the human's cheek. "Samantha, is everything alright?"_

_The human shakes her head. "I had this big bloody speech planned, and I can't even remember half of what I wanted to say. My heart… you make it beat so fast. You make my skin flush and my stomach fill with butterflies, and I want you to keep making me feel this way. Liara…" Samantha holds up a little box. Liara is just starting to recognize what might be happening, and it makes her own heart begin pounding wildly against her ribs. _

_The box opens, and inside is a simple silver band of metal, adorned with a single diamond. "Will you marry me, my beautiful blue wonder?"_

_Liara is speechless. They have talked about having a future together, yes. Children and dogs and a big house in the country. But it was always… in the abstract. Like they were afraid to make plans._

_Samantha looks uncertain now. "I… I know it's not very big. I didn't do a lot of planning, or I would've saved money by not buying that necklace and instead bought a better ring, a bigger stone, but-"_

_"Samantha," Liara says, silencing the human in her lap. "Samantha, it is lovely, and perfect, and of __**course**__ I will marry you."_

_Samantha laughs, collapsing into the asari for a moment. Liara can feel the poor woman shaking. Somehow they get the ring on her finger, and then they are making love, all assertiveness and sexual aggression lost to giddy relief and a swelling feeling of contentment Liara did not know possible._

_Tonight, they celebrate. Later, they will go to Horizon and find Kai Leng. ____They will also see what has become of Samantha's family, who have not responded to the communications specialist since the asari "met" them over omnitool. But for tonight... tonight, they have each other, and nothing can take that away from them._


	10. Chapter 10

Liara stopped playing with her newly-acquired engagement ring as Chakwas finally emerged from the medbay. Her heart thudding against her ribs, the asari pushed herself from her seat at the table. Nobody else was around, her last vigil-keeping friend having retired some time ago.

"She's going to be okay, Liara."

The relief was instantaneous. "Goddess," she breathed, reclaiming her seat as her knees threatened to buckle. Looking back up, she gave Chakwas a watery smile. "You are a good friend to give me that before any other details."

Chakwas smiled back. "I've learned a great deal in my time. It was a close thing, Liara. She was unconscious for a long time. I performed surgery, relieving the pressure. It took so long because complications popped up. I can give you the full run-down if you like…?"

Liara shook her head. "It is okay, Doctor. I do not need it right now. All I need to know is that she will be okay."

Nodding, Chakwas put her hand reassuringly on Liara's shoulder. "She will. She'll probably even be awake very soon. But she will be in my medbay for at least a few days. No duty, no strenuous activity beyond walking, and _no_ physical sex. And no Joinings, for that matter. Her poor brain has been through a lot."

Liara's smile deepened, along with the hue of her skin, and then suddenly she was laughing, the relief washing over her putting her in a somewhat giddy, euphoric state.

Chakwas laughed a moment, as well, before saying, "Go ahead. Williams is just cleaning up. I know you don't want to be apart from her. And Liara?"

Liara furrowed her brows slightly. "Yes, Karin?"

The doctor smiled warmly, holding out her hand the way humans did for a greeting. "Congratulations, you old dog. Quick work. Truly, splendidly happy for you."

Liara just blinked a few times, her eyes moving from the doctor's hand to her smiling face. "I'm… sorry?"

"The engagement ring. Do keep up, Doctor."

Liara's face flushed a little. "Yes, of course. I forgot that people would likely notice." She took the doctor's hand.

"Have you told anyone?"

Liara shook her head. "I was going to tell Shepard, but then today happened…"

Chakwas nodded. "Right. And I'm keeping you. You go see your fiancée. I'll go give a report to the commander." Releasing the asari's hand, she began walking away, turning back after only a few steps. "And congratulations again, Liara. Truly, if we aren't fighting for these small milestones in life, then what are we fighting for?"

"They are exactly what we are fighting for," Liara murmured to herself, pushing herself to her feet and making her way to the medbay.

The door swished open for her. Inside, Ashley Williams was washing her hands. It smelled of antiseptic and medigel.

"Hey, Liara," Ashley greeted her, smiling tiredly as she wiped her hands on a towel. Her customary jacket had been stripped off, as well as her shirt, leaving her in fatigues and a ribbed tank, similar to Liara's preferred outfit. She looked… exhausted. Alert, but exhausted: a look only a soldier could really carry.

"Ashley," Liara greeted in return, her eyes taking in the details before sliding away, seeking out her fiancée, as Chakwas had termed Samantha. Her fingers absently toyed with the ring on her finger.

Ashley smirked. "She's over on the bed in the back. She should wake up soon… ah, and she's actually waking up now." Slapping Liara lightly on the rump, startling her completely, the LC added, "Go get 'em, tiger. And congrats on the engagement. That ring's new, right?"

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Liara nodded, already heading for Samantha. "Yes. We… she proposed last night."

Nodding, Ashley gathered up her things. "Well, I'm glad we could get her in the clear. She's a good part of the team." As she left, she added, "Get me or Chakwas if you need something, yeah?"

Liara couldn't respond. She was too busy taking in the sight of her lover lying on the biobed, just beginning to stir. "Samantha!"

She received no reply, merely some grunts and grumbles as the specialist stirred. Liara ran the last few feet, barely noticing the swish of the doors as Williams left. She got to the edge of the bed, her hands hovering uncertainly, not sure where it was okay to touch.

"Liara?" Samantha's dark brown eyes, always so captivating, opened, revealing an adorable confusion within. Liara's hesitation melted, and she wrapped her hands and arms carefully around the specialist, sighing in relief.

"Oh, Samantha, I was so worried for you."

"I… what happened?" Samantha asked as Liara pulled back. She had a small bandage on her head, the hair having obviously been shaven away, no thought to aesthetics given in their rush to perform surgery. She had an IV emerging from the inside of her elbow and had been stripped of her torn uniform shirt, but other than that she lay almost as Liara was used to her.

"You were attacked, Samantha," Liara answered, wiping away the few stray tears that had escaped. "Do you… do you remember anything?"

"I… yes, actually, I do," she murmured, her eyes losing their focus as she spoke. "There was a group of teenagers. Refugees of the war, I figured. They asked me for money. I… I offered to buy them a meal. Didn't want to contribute to anyone's red sand addiction or anything like that, but I wanted to help if they truly needed it. They… they didn't take kindly to my offer, and suddenly I had a knife on me."

"Oh, Samantha…"

"God, they beat me, Liara!" The asari watched tears appear in the human's eyes, though they didn't spill over. "They took my omnitool and then beat me! I never thought I'd see a combat boot coming for my face…" Her tears suddenly melted into confusion. "I… how did you find me?"

Liara's face flushed slightly, though she smiled as she cupped the human's cheek. "All those cameras you didn't want me to follow you with, my dear love."

Samantha chuckled, shaking her head slightly before wincing. "Oh, I hurt all over…"

Liara began fussing, straightening the specialist's blanket as she spoke. "You are remarkable. We will get you some painkillers, and you can sleep, and-"

A hand on her shoulder silenced her, and Liara looked over to see Samantha merely smiling at her. "Firstly, concussion patients shouldn't be sleeping. Secondly, all I really want is to just be here. With you. We were supposed to celebrate our engagement, remember?"

Liara smiled, dropping the blanket and moving to fiddle with the still-unfamiliar ring on her finger. "Yes, of course. We… can't be physical, so what shall we do instead?"

"Tell me… well, perhaps it's jinxing it, but since we've already made one plan for after the war…" Samantha took a deep breath, reaching out her hand, which the asari took. "Tell me what it'll be like?"

Liara's heart beat a little faster. They'd been purposely avoiding talking about the future in too much detail. It seemed too much like tempting fate. But the human was right. They'd already put the ultimate plan out there: they were going to be bonded, have a family of at least the two of them, and now that Samantha was going to be okay, Liara was unafraid of anything else the universe could throw their way. Yes, one or the other of them could still die during this conflict. But it did not happen today.

Willing her heart to calm, Liara relaxed, coming closer to her fiancée and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Well, let's see… there will be children," Liara started, watching Samantha's face light up.

"Little asari daughters!"

"_And_ human children," Liara said, suddenly sure she wanted it. "I want children that are like you, too."

"But, they will die long before you do, Liara," Samantha murmured, her hand leaving the asari's to cup her cheek. "No mother should have to bury her child."

"Be that as it may, I know how much you wish to produce your own children, from your own womb, and I wish it, as well."

Samantha considered Liara for a moment. Then, slowly, a smile began to form, and she merely nodded. "Alright then. A gaggle of human and asari children. What else?"

"I will have to find a suitable alternative to myself as the Broker - I will not endanger my family like that. You like dogs, so I imagine we'll have at least one. And the country. I want to give you a house in a field, like the place you took me to when we first melded."

Samantha excitedly replied, "Ooooh! _Real_ wood! With a white picket fence, and..."

Liara listened happily as Samantha took over from there, describing to the asari what she envisioned as their home, and what their life would be like. It was all… wonderfully dull. Beautifully and perfectly normal. Like nothing they'd experienced before.

As Chakwas had said, this was what they were fighting for. The right to love, and happiness, and utter, boring normalcy.

* * *

_A/N: The prompt from Raven Sinead - "the gist of the prompt is that the love interests (don't care who, just prefer a same sex pairing, as usual) are isolated, and in a bit of a pinch. One of them is watching the other die, can't really do anything about it, and I want you to do a flashback type story where you show the more meaningful moments of their relationships, the fights, the sex, the happy times, etc."_

_This may not be exactly what she was thinking, but it's what I came up with. :) I hope you enjoyed this fic. It was a lot of fun, and I've always wanted to do this pairing again. Let me know what you think!_


End file.

Mass Effect, Drama, Romance